This invention relates to a rubber belt crawler chain having chain guiding members which are slidingly guided inside one another and are connected with a cross-piece adapted to accommodate steel cables.
A rubber belt crawler chain is known from the German Patent Document DE-A 38 24 774, wherein cross-pieces having cables therein are arranged in rubber sleeves for a precise alignment so that a contact with clamping plates of the cross-piece, and thus destruction caused by metallic friction, becomes impossible. A crawler chain of this type requires relatively high manufacturing expenditures due to the amount of labor required for pushing the rubber sleeves onto the wire cables as well as the precise arrangement of the cables between longitudinal webs of the two clamping plates having corresponding recesses for this purpose.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved rubber belt crawler chain for a vehicle having cables with a high running capacity which can be manufactured with reduced labor expenditures.
According to the invention, this and other objects are achieved by a rubber belt crawler for a vehicle having chain guide members which are slidingly guided inside one another and are connected with a cross-piece adapted to accommodate steel cables of a rubber bearing body surrounding the cross-piece between one another, the cross-piece having two clamping elements which form a receiving device for the steel cables between one another, groove-shaped guides for the cables being arranged in one clamping element and covered in a web-shaped manner by the other clamping element.
An advantage achieved by the invention is that the position of the cables in the cross-piece is fixed without having to use rubber sleeves. This takes place in guides of a clamping element of the cross-piece which are opposed by recesses in another clamping element of the cross-piece, in which case the cables are arranged in the connection plane of the two clamping elements.
In the prior art, because of local overstressing during the operation of the crawler chain, the clamping elements shift relative to one another so that, as in the case of the crawler chain according to the German Patent Document DE-A 38 24 774, the opposing groove-shaped guides in the two clamping elements also change their position with respect to one another and there is the risk of a squeezing or shearing-off of the cables in the connection plane of the clamping elements. According to the invention, this disadvantage is avoided by the fact that groove-shaped guides are provided in only one element, and in the other opposite clamping element a duct is provided which has a continuous surface. In the case of a shifting of the clamping elements relative to one another during the operation, a squeezing or shearing-off of the cable is therefore no longer possible because the cables can slide along on the continuous surface of the duct.
In an embodiment of the invention, the groove-shaped guides are arranged in a transverse web of the cross-piece, and separating ribs extend to the continuous surface of the opposite clamping piece. As a result, the section modulus against bending is advantageously fully maintained because the ribs between the guides prevent a collapsing of the clamping elements during bending.
In order to avoid damage to the cables caused by the ribs and guides, the ribs and guides are provided with roundings in an embodiment of the invention so that during the manufacturing of the chain and in the driving operation, the cables cannot be damaged.
In order to also prevent squeezing of the extreme cable position during the operation, an embodiment of the invention provides the duct with a clearance in one clamping element with respect to the respective cables disposed on the outside.
In an embodiment of the crawler chain, the transverse web is arranged in a perpendicular transverse center plane of the cross-piece and has a construction that is as narrow as possible. As a result, it is possible to provide a maximum amount of rubber between the cable and the clamping elements and to thus achieve optimal elasticity. This maximum amount of rubber is achieved by a space that is as large as possible between the clamping elements having a relatively large height. In the end area, the clamping elements have opening slopes which are disposed at an angle. As a result, it is prevented that the cables, in the case of a maximal cable deflection, during the operation, come to rest on the exterior edges of the clamping pieces.
Another embodiment of the crawler chain arranges the groove-shaped guides in the clamping element facing away from the road, and the clamping element with the flat duct faces the road.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.